Stingers blast through live-fire training

[USMCRET6391]

June 12, 2006;

By Lance Cpl. Travis V. Easter, MCB Camp Butler

MECK ISLAND, Kwajalein Atoll (June 12, 2006) -- A stinger missile screams toward a small plane. Impacting and exploding, the missile leaves only a trail of smoke in its wake as pieces of the plane fall slowly to the ocean. The gunner smiles as he turns to the lieutenant in charge. "Can I do it again?"

1st Marine Aircraft Wing's 1st Stinger Battery devoted several days and nights to live-fire training sessions during a weeklong exercise May 22-27 in Meck Island on the Kwajalein Atoll. The battery fired 48 missiles during the week, and the exercise allowed Marines to fulfill annual training and military occupational specialty sustainment requirements.

Low altitude air defense gunner Marines are required to fire the Stinger missile during the final test of their MOS school, explained Lance Cpl. Mohamed Sheriff, a low altitude air defense gunner with 1st Stinger Battery. For some Marines, this was their first time firing the missile since the school.

"The firing exercise normally occurs only once a year" said Cpl. Ricardo Padilla, a low altitude air defense gunner and 2nd Platoon team leader for 1st Stinger Battery. "The missiles cost more than $38,000 a piece, so they are too expensive to use for everyday training."

The Stinger Weapons System is a five-foot long, shoulder-fired weapon that weighs 35 pounds. It was introduced to the Marine Corps in 1982 to engage low-altitude jets and helicopters from one to six kilometers away. It operates under a "fire and forget" guidance system that allows gunners to take cover or engage more targets immediately after firing.

The missile finds heat signatures by using the battery cooling unit, explained Staff Sgt. Christopher Fultz, the logistics chief of 1st Stinger Battery. The battery unit provides pre-flight power and regulates the infrared detector cell temperature to 275 degrees Fahrenheit. The temperature makes the missile sensitive to heat when it's activated.

"The gunners activate the missile and the seeker cools down to the point where it will recognize the infrared heat signature of an aircraft," said Master Sgt. Timothy J. King, a low altitude air defense sustainment project officer with Marine Corps Systems Command. "Once the missile has locked onto a source, it's ready to fire."

The Stinger Weapons System can sometimes lose the heat signature of the target after it is fired, according to Padilla. If it loses the initial heat source, it will look for another and go after it.

The missile transmits audible tones while the gunner tracks the target. When the tone remains steady, the target is locked and the gunner fires.

During the exercise, the gunners fired their missiles at small-scale replicas of the MIG-23 Russian fuselage, created by Advanced Composite Manufacturing.

The remote control planes are 12-by-12 feet and reach speeds of 120-170 mph, explained Rick Broussard, the president of Advanced Composite Manufacturing. The planes travel 2,000 meters and execute a circular raceway pattern until they are shot down.

"The planes are also known as Stinger (Meals, Ready-to-Eat)," Broussard said. "Stingers love to eat them."

The plane's life span is only 1.5 minutes long after it leaves the launch trailer, Broussard added.

The 1st Stinger Battery is the only unit in III Marine Expeditionary Force that operates the Stinger Weapons System, according to Maj. Matthew Culbertson, the battery commanding officer.

"At the end of the day, we are the only ground-based air defense capability in the Marine Air Ground Task Force, and we have to be ready to defend critical assets throughout III MEF," he said.